One Piece has some of the most unique character designs for any anime that I have seen. Every character, even if they only show up for 1 minute, are so off the wall that you will either love it or hate it.
This special is unique in that it actually features two Specials. The Adventure of the Forbidden Zone, and an overview of what happens in the first few eps. Basically how Nami and Zoro joined.
Plot: Luffy and crew fall into a cave in the sea and save the townspeople living there by destroying the evil menace (as opposed to the saintly kind :p)
Subtitles:
The opening and ending songs are un-subbed but the opening dialogue is. The subtitles are good for an HK release. Some engrish, mainly some weird phrasings. Nothing really spectacular here but nothing huge to complain about either. This is should be the minimum standard for a release IMO. For some reason, they kept calling Zoro, Roofy.
Name Problems:
Nami = Namie
Luffy = Roofy
Gold Roger = Orodoroja
Packaging:
Simple black one disc case. The cover picture has the crew, enemy and the Going Merry. On the back are some screenshots of the anime and a whole bunch of Kanji/katakana/alien writing apparently describing the show, And the usually dvd technically info you find on the back of every (semi)legitimate dvd no matter the region coding.
Video:
MI green logo animation is first thing seen. This doesn't really bother me at all as I see no reason that the company shouldn't put their logo on the dvd somewhere. I'm just glad MI does it once at the beginning instead of putting watermarks throughout the show. The video quality is excellent. Absolutely no problems whatsoever.
Audio:
The opening theme song (Believe in Wonderland) is really energetic and I am always psyched to watch show after hearing and I bet you will be too. The ending theme is also very good. Very crisp and clear sound
Menus:
The main menu features the theme song and animation from the first ending featured on this disc. It gives you three options: Play, Chapter and Subtitle and features both English and Chinese titles for the options. After 30 seconds it will automatically start the show.
The Subtitle menu uses the theme song and the animation form the first ending. Chinese and English lettering for the options as well. After 30 seconds if you don't choose, it will take you back to the main menu.
The chapter menu gives you two options: the special and the overview.
Chapter Breaks:
The chapter menu is not completely accurate as there are actually 10 chapters to choose from (+1 for the MI logo at the beginning) After 30 seconds if you don't choose it will take you back to the main menu just like the subtitle menu. One for each opening and ending and one between each commercial.
Content:
The animation for this special is different from the usual fare that we are used to in One Piece. I don't know if its just the difference in character designs for the enemy, but something is different about it. The main character designs are the same as always except that the deformed versions showing stronger emotions aren't up to the same standards as some of the before.
As for the overview episode at the end, there is nothing new here at all. If you have seen the rest of the series up to this point, then you can skip this entirely. Unless you just want to hear Believe in Wonderland and the original opening again.
This is One Piece, so of course I am going to recommend the special but if you are choosing between this and the other special or the movies, I would pick those up first.
(7.83)